Suns look to make playoffs in condensed second half
Feb 27, 2012, 5:05 PM | Updated: 8:45 pm
The Phoenix Suns have struggled to this point and will
have to improve dramatically if they have hopes of playing
in May.
A team in the competitive Western Conference usually has
to get a couple of games above .500 in order to sneak in
to the playoffs. In fact, at least one team that finished
with a winning record has missed the playoffs in each of
the last four seasons.
For Phoenix at 14-20, this would mean posting a 20-12
record in their remaining 32 games to push them over the
.500 mark, although that
wouldn’t guarantee inclusion in the postseason. The Suns
disappointing
record puts them in 13th in the Western Conference and
currently five spots out of the playoffs, although that is
only 4 games back in the loss column from eighth-place
Portland.
Phoenix may be able to close the gap, but has 21 games
left against teams with winning records, with 17 of the 32
remaining contests at US Airways Center.
The Suns will have to make up ground against some of the
league’s top teams, as they play the Oklahoma City
Thunder twice, and the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and
reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks once each.
Two home games against the Utah Jazz and the Detroit
Pistons with a road game against the Los Angeles Clippers
sandwiched in between make up the Suns’ remaining back-to-
back-to-back, which takes place from March 14-16. That set
of games starts the Suns grueling stretch of seven games
in ten days, against mostly formidable competition,
including the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic on the road
in consecutive games.
Unless Phoenix improves their play or their roster,
they’re in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the
second straight season, something that hasn’t happened
since the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons.
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